Hand In Hand
by AfterReign
Summary: You can say I'm too curious for my own good, but that doesn't stop me figuring out why there was a girl, who looked a lot like myself, imitating me through the mirror. I... I really wanted to meet her. "Although we're two of a kind, when we walk hand in hand, I feel like we've become one." [Not Morgan/Lucina & Slight AU]


**Time for my first Fire Emblem: Awakening fanfiction! Thank you everyone for reading this! ^^  
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**So, yes. This is Morgancest. Sorry if you don't like it.**

**There _will _be other pairings here, but most of them won't be touched on. There also might be shoujo-ai and shounen-ai pairings,here, so be wary of that.**

**To differentiate the Morgans and Robins, I gave some of them their Japanese names. So female!Morgan is Marc and male!Robin is Rufure!**

**It's also implied that F!Robin married Chrom and M!Robin married Lucina. I apologize if you don't like those pairs, but I'm not too fond of them either. ^^; I did it... just because, aha.  
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**In this chapter, it switches P.O.V.s , but I think it's easy to tell who is who. I apologize again if it's not.**

**I apologize if they're OOC! I'm not used to writing characters with a personality already made for them, aha...**

**Isn't the cover nice? Please check it out on zerochan! Add a / and 1309060 at the end of zerochan's url to find it!  
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**There are probably errors in this, so if you find any, please let me know!**

* * *

Sometimes, I forget what I look like.

Yeah, I know. How was I that absent-minded to not know what my appearance was at all times? It was all really simple, but it was even hard for me to believe.

When I looked at my reflection, whether it was a polished piece of silver armor, a shiny mirror, or a generous amount of water, I never saw me but a girl who bared the same confused expression I had on.

Thanks to one of the Annas' cool inventions, the snapshot tome, I knew exactly what I looked like! I had the blue, royal hair of my father and the round eyes of my sister. I hid the Exalt brand under my attire, but that didn't mean I wasn't proud of it. I thought it'd be sort of weird to flash my birthmark to everyone, Shepherds included, since I would have to take off anything blocking my chest. Instead, I dressed myself in a similar cloak my mother always wore to cover up the birthmark.

The girl, oddly enough, was like my twin. She had azure hair just like me but more long and more messy than mine, and her bed head was only emphasized by her cowlick sticking up like a brand new daisy. Her eyes were significantly smaller than mine, yet they seemed so mischievous. Her face was rounder than mine, and her long, blue eyelashes curled up to the sky as if they were reaching for it. Shorter than me, she copied my every move like a toddler pretending to be their parent.

At first, I thought I magically turned into a girl, but I ruled out that possibility when I asked Inigo why he didn't flirt with me. I received a flustered response along the lines of, "G-gods, Morgan! I like girls, you know? G-I-R-L-S!"

It was probably a better idea to ask Lucina if I looked like a girl, but it was too late for that now. After declining the philanderer's offer to be his wingman for the week, I trudged back to my tent, defeated for the day.

If I wasn't female, then who was that girl that keeps on replacing me in my reflection?

I shook my head, getting rid of that thought. Thinking about it wouldn't make her go away. ... Although, it wasn't like I wanted her to disappear.

During the next night, I finished the preparations to give Mother a little scare. If it wasn't for Aunt Lissa, I wouldn't have thought of this great idea! The pitfall prank didn't work and hiding one of her tactical books failed too, but I had a feeling this one would succeed. In high spirits, I strolled over to my mother's tent.

"Ah, Mother?" I called as I carefully entered her tent, my cloak brushing against the tent's flaps.

"Oh, Morgan!" My mother, Robin, smiled when she saw me. "What brings you here today? Do you plan to play another prank on me again?"

"O-of course not!" I stammered, but I knew that was a lie. When Aunt Lissa told me she pranked my mother with frogs, I was dying to to try it out! But since she's on to me now...

I exited out of her tent momentarily and crouched down to the dirt floor to release the ten frogs hidden in my sleeves. With a couple of ribbits, the amphibians hopped away from me, and I sighed in sheer disappointment.

I went back inside the unorganized tent and sheepishly smiled at her. "Well, maybe just _one_ small prank."

"Morgan, you're far too young to outsmart me." The white-haired women told me with a grin as she wiggled her finger at me.

"You're just too good, Mother!" I laughed at myself wholeheartedly. I gave her a determined expression and shouted, "Just you wait. I'll become a great tactician like you someday!"

"I can't wait for that day, then." With a small smile, she gestured to a wooden stool besides her. I took up the offer to sit near my mother. Setting aside one of her books, she inquired, "What's on your mind today?"

I gave a silent sigh, cursing myself for not being able to hide my emotions better. She was too good to see through my facial expression. Although I initially wanted to play a prank on Mother, I had an urge to talk to her about that girl, too. But what would I say?

... Urk, maybe it wasn't a great idea to come to Mother's tent today.

"W-well, uh," I stuttered, twiddling my thumbs together, "I was wondering... how many alternate timelines there were."

She arched one of her eyebrows, befuddled. "Hmm?"

"There is the... current timeline we're living in right now," I attempted to explain, "and the timeline where Lucina and the rest came from. Even _I_ might have came from a different alternate universe than all of you..."

My mother stayed silent, watching me with worrisome eyes. I felt a pang of guilt in my chest. Even though I sound serious at the moment, what I'm about to say sounds sort of silly...

"So, Mother, uh, I," I paused myself in hesitance before continuing, "was wondering if there was an alternate universe... where I was a girl."

* * *

"So, Father, um, I," I paused myself in hesitance before continuing, "was wondering if there was an alternate universe... where I was a boy."

My father gaped at me, perplexed, before quickly covering his mouth as if he was about to vomit out his dinner. He whipped his head away, facing the opposite direction of me, and had his body hunched over.

"Huh? Father?" I blinked at him before realizing what was happening. My eyes widened, and I exclaimed, "Wait, don't tell me... Did someone cast a curse on you? Oh no! Gods! Someone, help! Father has been cursed! Should I get Aunt Lissa or Tharja or... Wait, I must warn the others! Everyone, quick! We're under-"

I felt a large hand ruffle my hair, and I glanced upwards to see my father, Rufure, about to burst out with laughter. "Jeez, Marc. I was just laughing!"

"Laughing?" I repeated the word as if it was a foreign text from an ancient book.

"Yes, laughing. Plus, wouldn't it be more logical that I would just have terrible stomachache from Sully's cooking than be cursed?" The tactician pointed out.

I let out a nervous giggle at the sudden realization. "... It would."

"At any rate, where did you get a thought like that?" he asked with a chuckle, peeking to the side to see if anyone paid attention to my false warning. Luckily, no one did, and we both shared the feeling of relief.

"I-I," I stumbled on my words, a little embarrassed from my unneeded outburst moments ago, "had... a dream."

"And what was this dream?" my father questioned me, not noticing or ignoring the anxious expression on my face.

I wiped off the imaginary sweat from my forehead in relief. Thank you, Naga, for not letting Father question how suspicious I look! I would sound too foolish, saying that my reflection was a boy...

"Well... In my dream, I was out in the market. Anna, one of the merchants we passed by in town and not the one from the army, approached me and sold me a hand mirror. It was small and round, b-but that wasn't the odd thing about this dream! The odd thing was... when I looked in the mirror, I didn't see me, but a boy as my reflection instead!" I half lied to him, feeling even more guilty than before, but I was kind of impressed that I could make up a lie like that with ease. I mentally patted my back and continued. "So when I woke up, it made me think of another timeline where everyone's gender is flipped!"

"That's pretty interesting." My father said, stroking his chin. "A world where everyone is of the opposite gender... A female Chrom..."

"I bet you would make a fantastic tactician in any alternate universe!" I chimed, holding both of his hands.

"And I bet you would be the best kid either way." With a devious smirk, he slipped his hand from mine and- Oww! Did he just flick me?

I smacked my head with both of my hands, protecting me from any more attacks. I pouted at him and began to whine. "How cruel! Who knew my own father would betray me?"

"Sorry, sorry," he apologized, but it was obvious he was enjoying my pain. I stuck my tongue at him, and he could only pat me on the head. "Now, I think it's time to rest for the night. Today was pretty interesting, but tiring..."

"It was!" I agreed with him, nodding my head. "There were those Risen who stole Aunt Lissa and Uncle Frederick's life savings..."

"And those naked posters of Chrom hanging in everyone's tent..."

"Plus, Gaius led a whole bee nest to the camp because he was craving for some honey..."

"Don't forget that Sully was on kitchen duty, today," Father groaned, hitting his head on one of his tactical books to emphasize his agony.

"At least, you had some secret bear meat to help your stomach, right?" I reminded, and the elder gave me a sly grin.

"True," he stated before he started to shoo me away, "but now it's time to go and rest for the night. We have a long day tomorrow, kiddo."

"Too many Risen to kill, right?" I asked with eager as he walked me out of his tent.

He stared at me, a blank look on his face, and shook his head in response. "Did you forget? You even told me yourself."

"I did?" I responded as I racked my brain for anything I told Father. After a minute or two, I gave up and shrugged my shoulders. "I can't recall anything. Is it a special day tomorrow?"

He chortled and gave me another pat, this time on the back. "It is. Good night, Marc."

"Good night, Father." I responded, and he slid back into his tent, probably about to study up on more tactics he could use in battle.

Once he was out of sight, I walked the opposite way to my tent, hoping not to be too suspicious. Even though I said good night to Father, I wasn't about to sleep. Not yet, at least.

I lingered around the camp, looking at each and every tent. Some were glowing with a yellow light, the source being inside, but once each tent went dark as dead fireflies, I quietly slithered through the camp like a snake, careful not to make any noise. I know I had nothing bad to hide, but I didn't want to wake up anyone in my activities. I already get in trouble with all of the pranks Cynthia and I pull together, so I didn't even want to think about what the punishment would be for waking up everyone from their slumber.

Once I spotted a wooden bucket, I crossed my fingers. Hopefully this one has water in it...

I grinned to myself when I saw that it did, and the boy in the water involuntarily did the same.

Squatting down to get a closer look at my reflection, I mumbled, "I wonder, do you have the same name as me?"

He repeated the same question, but no sound left his lips. It was obvious that he couldn't answer. Even though he wasn't me, he was still my reflection.

His hair was the same royal blue as mine, but it was cut shorter than my hair. His eyes were rounder and bigger than mine, but our eyes also bore the same exact color. Round face and chubby cheeks, I was sure that we would be mistaken as twins if anyone saw us together. I wondered if his Exalt brand was near his chest like how mine was, but doing that would mean I would have to...

I blushed at the thought and shielded my whole face with both of my sleeves, even though no one could see me.

Gods! If someone caught me doing that, I would be shamed for more than a lifetime!

...

... Is he blushing, too?

I slid one sleeve away from my eyes only to see the boy in the water with a flushed expression, sapphire orbs as wide as saucers. Somehow, his eyes were sparkling more than usual, but I think that was due to the full moon being out tonight.

After my face cooled down, without thinking, I reached out to my reflection to touch him, but his face began to distort once an abrupt coolness met the tip of my fingers. I immediately pulled my hand away from the water and watched the ripples I made change his face into different shapes.

I smiled at him, and he smiled back. "I want to meet you."

* * *

"C'mon, Morgan!" Cynthia shoved me to the large, wooden table with enthusiasm, her short, chestnut brown pig tails bobbing up and down. "Time to start the celebration, birthday boy!"

"Guys..." I awed at them and the huge, pink frosted cake they displayed in front of me. Feeling tears brimming at the edges of my eyes, I swiftly wiped them away in embarrassment.

Someone came up behind me and patted my shoulder. "You deserve it."

I tilted my head upwards to face a man in a black, mysterious mask. Gerome gave me a rare smile, and I beamed at him. "Thank you!"

I turned my attention to everybody and blurted out, "Thank you, everyone. I'm really happy that all of you thought of me to set up this celebration."

"Who'd forget the most optimistic guy here?" Sully hollered from the sidelines, her hands circling around her mouth to make herself even louder than she already was.

"Himself, probably," Severa bitterly muttered, but I could tell she was covering up her true emotions again by the red tint painted on her cheeks.

Reaching for a cup of water besides my plate, I briefly saw the blue-haired girl with a happy expression on her face in the transparent liquid.

"Is it your birthday, too?" The question slipped from my lips by accident, causing Lucina to skeptically gaze at me.

"Did you say something, Morgan?" my sibling asked, her long, silky hair brushing against my neck.

"Nothing!" I speedily said, my face flushing. She caught my flustered gaze with her doubtful one, but she didn't dare to press on. I let out a sigh of relief. That makes two and a half lies this week...

"Everyone, I would like to make a speech!" I announced, motioning everyone to take their seats. Once they did, I began to say, "Thank you again, everyone. I really do appreciate this, and I'll make sure to return the gesture to everyone tenfold! ... If I'm able to remember to do so, anyways."

I earned a chuckle from a couple of the Shepherds, encouraging me to continue. "I think it's fair to say that we all have had our hardships in the end, but I believe that we'll be able to overcome all of our obstacles as long as we keep working together. Thank you all for taking care of me, and I hope we can all continue to be friends in the end. And please remember that," I briefly stopped myself, taking a peek at Lucina, "hope will never die!"

Everyone was stunned for a moment before people started clapping wildly. People began to shoot up from their seats to give me a standing ovation. Shouts were thrown out from across the room, and I couldn't stop the grin on my face growing wider.

"Bravo, Morgan!" The archer, Virion, clapped his hands, crystal tears forming in his eyes.

"I-I ain't cryin', runt!" Brady shouted, embarrassed from the huge tears pooling down from his face. He covered his face with one arm and swatted the male taguel with the other, but all a teary-eyed Yarne could do was rub the brute's back as if he was a newborn baby.

"Well, aren't you the motivational speaker?" Lucina playfully nudged me, but I had to shake my head at that.

"I was trying to act like you." I winked, elbowing her back. "You're a leader who could inspire others, Lucina!"

My sister hugged me shortly before unwrapping her arms around me. "Believe what you want, Morgan. Now, will you blow out the candle?"

"I'll do that now." I promised her and sat down in my seat, my elder sister following me soon afterwards.

When everyone sang the birthday song to me, I honestly thought it was music to my ears, but I heard a few negative comments from Tharja, Severa, and both Minervas, that as a group, they didn't sound as spectacular as I thought everyone did. I could only laugh at that response, and some others did the same.

"Make a wish, Morgan!" Mother cheered from across the room, and I gave her a thumbs up.

I stared at the single candle, its red flame wavering in the slight breeze. What should I wish for? World peace? New books?

Suddenly, a familiar face crossed my mind, and I began to remember how red-faced she was the night before. My mouth dropped open slightly, and my throat went to dry. A mixture of surprise and embarrassment struck me like a powerful spell, almost enough to knock me off of my feet.

Her? ... Did I want to see her?

I bit my lip in slight frustration. I didn't want to make a selfish wish, but I've also wanted to meet her for the longest time. It's not like the others would know my wish though, so...

Was it okay?

I shut my eyes tightly and made a wish. '_I wish to meet her.'_

I blew out the flame, and all what was left was grey smoke fuming from the candle. Everyone cheered and clapped for me as if I accomplished the impossible, which earned a small laugh out of me in return. As the festivities continued, it turned out to be one of the greatest nights of my life. I made sure to cherish that happiness and the taste of the delicious cake for over a lifetime.

When I was lying in my cot with one of Mother's books in my possession back in my tent, it suddenly dawned to me on what kind of wish I made. It was only a birthday wish, but I hoped that it'd come true. Birthdays come every year, so I could make another wish for everyone next year, right?

But if I'm being honest, I wasn't expecting Naga herself to grant my wish.

* * *

**Please tell me if you found any mistakes!**

**So, Morgan and Marc come from different worlds, but they're pretty similar.**

**Anyway, until the next update. See you later!**


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